We all wear masks of some kind, I guess, but far-right talk show screamer Alex Jones' mask is more spectacular than most.

An unabashed supporter of Trump, Jones recently criticized the candidate for ordering a missile strike on a Syrian government airfield, claiming that the chemical-weapons attack linked to Syrian President Bashar Assad that preceded it was a false-flag operation committed by Assad's opposition. She said some of Mr Jones's on-air rants - for which he is renowned - are evidence of him being "not a stable" father.

The Austin American Statesman reported over the weekend, however, that the host's lawyer has a specific defense in mind to explain away his client's over-the-top tirades.

Kelly Jones says it's mental instability, while Alex Jones has made a massive income off his inflammatory and provoking comments.

"I'm concerned that he is engaged in felonious behavior, threatening a member of Congress", she said, referring to his recent comments about California Democrat Adam Schiff. The Infowars clip that Colbert plays does indeed display a screaming, demented Jones sounding "like a coked-out football coach in a police stand-off".

And, in addition to providing news for a large, increasingly politically-active chunk of the country, he's also become an important influence on President Donald Trump, a man who is highly susceptible to flattery, reads very little, and carries the nuclear football.

Jones' trademark are his raspy, no-holds-barred rants.

Stephen Colbert's Monday impersonation of Jones only lightly enhanced the way the right-wing purveyor of everything you'll need in the fallout shelter shouts into the camera: "I'm alive!" The counterargument from Jones' lawyers is that his act is all "performance art", which you can't use to judge Jones the father-nor the man. "He is a performance artist". The basic issue confronted after these ugly opening arguments revolved around Kelly's claims that Jones is unstable while his attorney says that he's simply acting in "performance art". Latinareport that Alex once criticized Jennifer Lopez and said, "Why don't you go to Somalia for five minutes, lady?" In a July 2015 broadcast, Jones brought his then 12-year-old son onto the show: "He is undoubtedly cut out for this, and I intend for him to eclipse what I've done", Jones said at the time. The school board in Newtown, where the school is located, sent Trump a letter in February 2017 asking him to denounce Jones for the allegation.

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